27 Clothing Retailer Logos from New York City

Let’s go shopping in New York City! We visited 27 clothing retailer websites (with some help from Google Maps) and took a look at their logos. What messages are fashion retailers in the Big Apple looking to send with their logos? Let’s take a close look at 27 logotypes.

One thing seems clear: most of these clothing store logos, many of which are from world-renowned companies, are very simple. There is not a reliance on a logomark, in general. Rather, the emphasis is on the logotype. Classic typefaces, or variations on them, are by far the most popular choice. The bigger the price tag, the simpler the logo?

It seems that in fashion, the brand is the storefront window, or the webpage, or the catalog, but in any case is not the logo. The logo in these cases, as evidenced by the most famous examples below, has a job to get out of the way. The logo’s job is to tell you the name of the store – to get you to say the name to yourself perhaps, to hear yourself saying that name and get you to picture yourself wearing the brand. These kinds of minimal logotypes allow a certain kind of customer-projection on to them, and allow for changes in style (which is cyclical and unending) without losing label recognition. Therefore, fashion logotypes must by fashion-style agnostic, within their fashion niche.

Logos are also used on clothing labels, and in many cases need to be stitched or embroidered at small sizes with few colors. No doubt, this is a significant factor in their design.

Many logotypes below, in a sense, are not visual perhaps as much as they are auditory. The clothing itself can’t be distracted from, and so, these logos provide excellent functionality to that effect. The real branding is displayed on the racks and shelves and tables, where presentation is everything.

Click through to see each retailer’s website.

My favorites below, in order, are:

Prada

J. Crew

Alexander McQueen

How about yours?

Clothing Store Logos

One more thing—can you take just a split second to share this with a nod from your blog, Facecook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.?

About Douglas Bonneville

Douglas has been a graphic designer since 1992, in addition to software developer and author. He is a member of Smashing Magazine's "Panel of Experts" and has contributed to over 100 articles. He is the author of "The Big Book of Font Combinations", loves cats, and plays guitar.

Hi James: Picasso spoke truth when he said that good artists copy but great artists steal. In that sense, the iconic logos are our best teachers about logo design – we should borrow freely from them but not without study and understanding…

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